


Enough

by livxxmarie



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Angst, Childhood, College, First Kiss, How Do I Tag, Kissing, M/M, One Shot, Pining, Pining Rhett, Rhett POV, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-10
Updated: 2016-06-10
Packaged: 2018-07-14 03:26:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7151177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/livxxmarie/pseuds/livxxmarie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They were best friends. That was always enough for Rhett.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Enough

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for my good pal Reese (mclavghlin) because they are fantastic and I love them a lot. Check out their fics if you haven't already because all of them end up hurting my soul but in the best way possible.

They were best friends. That was always enough.

Rhett lay in his bed, Link on the floor just beside him, curled up on an air mattress that Rhett’s mom had blown up for the smaller boy. They were best friends. Nothing could change that. Even when they spent that year apart, both in separate classrooms, Link had remained the one he truly wanted to hang out with. Even when he got closer to Ben and Link wasn’t able to see him as often that year, he was never _not_ thinking about the brunette.

That was three—or was it four?—years ago and Rhett still remembers the relief that he felt when they got their classroom assignments for the following year and they were reunited. Link was his best friend. Nothing would change that.

Still, seventh grade had been filled with so many differences. Link still had some of his baby fat and Rhett had lost almost all of his already. One would think that Rhett would think Link looked dorky when his cheeks were still so chubby and his smile so similar to one you would see a ten year old adorning, but Rhett found it endearing. It allowed him to remember the start of their friendship. Something did feel different about his friend, though, and he didn’t like to dwell on it.

Link’s eyes were still cornflower blue, but when they met Rhett’s nowadays, the taller boy felt his heart jump in a strange sort of way. When Link smiled, toothy and ridiculous, laughing at some joke that Rhett had told him, the blonde felt so thrilled. He’d heard his older brother talking about how he felt on top of the world when he could get his girlfriend to smile. Rhett’s stomach twisted at this remark as he recalled feeling the exact same when his younger friend would light up in a grin. Although this knowledge made the blonde’s heart race and his head spin with what that could possibly mean, he truly hoped that he would always be the one to make Link smile.

Rhett pondered this as he glanced down at his best friend. As if on cue, one of Link’s bright blue eyes opened and looked up at him.

“I can’t sleep.”

Rhett glanced at the window in his bedroom, snow falling down in sheets.

“Me neither. Wanna go swim in the river?”

Link laughed at this, rolling his eyes, and Rhett ignored the way his heart soared at the sound.

* * *

They were best friends. That was always enough.

As the sun shined on Cape Fear River, the summer air humid and sticky, Rhett did his best to shield his eyes from Link’s tanned torso. His stomach fluttered as he took a quick glance and admired Link’s muscular back for no more than three seconds, shooting his eyes towards the river again on impulse. His face heated up even though he knew he hadn’t been caught.

Sophomore year of high school had been a whirlwind. Nothing felt wrong that year, other than his relationship status with Amber. She was a nice girl with such a kind heart, but Rhett couldn’t reciprocate in the way he desperately wanted to. Not while Link was by his side, all toned soccer body and cheeky little grins. The way his nearly-black hair was cut nowadays fit his face impeccably and showed off all of the shorter boy’s prominent features. It had become harder for Rhett to ignore his feelings and easier to ignore his now-ex girlfriend.

Link suddenly turned towards Rhett and threw an arm around his friend, smiling as he looked at the river in front of them. Rhett smiled back, ignoring the way his heart raced and how tingly his skin felt where Link’s bare arm held him. They were best friends. That was enough. Listening to Link’s laugh, spending nearly every moment with the brunette, seeing that beautiful smile; all of these things were more than enough. Rhett nodded to himself at this and the shorter boy noticed this movement and looked at him with bemused blue eyes.

“Ready?” Link asked, eyes flashing to the water before meeting Rhett’s again.

“I was born ready, brother,” Rhett replied in an over-the-top southern accent. The shorter of the two threw his head back and laughed, the arm holding Rhett tightening approvingly.

Yeah. That was more than enough for Rhett.

* * *

 

They were best friends. That was always enough.

Rhett stared at his best friend during their college graduation, pride filling his chest. The bitter taste in his mouth was still there as he realized that they weren’t going to be living together anymore and that he wouldn’t be able to see Link every single day ever again. Some small part of him hoped that they would end up with jobs at the same engineering firm, but Rhett’s logical mind squashed it immediately with the reminder that, while their degrees were similar, they were not the same.

Link’s eyes met Rhett’s as the blue-eyed man hugged Rhett’s parents and he sent the blonde an excited grin. Rhett had seen the expression before and knew that it meant that he had some sort of plan that he wanted to talk to Rhett about and the blonde smiled at this thought. Link was always coming up with crazy ideas for the two of them to try out. As soon as Rhett smiled back at him, still stiff and rigid as he had been getting into the habit of doing for nearly two years now, Link’s eyes flashed to his own parents and the blonde’s family moved towards him to congratulate him and envelope him in a large hug.

Rhett tried to swallow the bile in his mouth as he thought about his behavior and how it had been affecting Link. In an attempt to punish himself for his romantic feelings towards his friend, he had been much more of a douchebag within the past two years. It wasn’t only directed towards Link, but Rhett could see that his friend took it the hardest. The blonde didn’t know how else to cope with his emotions and as of lately, his shitty attitude had been more prominent when he talked to Link in a group of people. Rhett was trying to distance himself, but as soon as the two were alone, he couldn’t refrain from settling back into his old self, doing whatever he could to get Link to smile and laugh. It seemed that the brunette had noticed this action, as he had declined most offers to hang out with all of the guys together unless it was without Rhett. The tall man had understood his action, but he wasn’t willing to let go of the act just yet. After someone had noticed how close the two were during their sophomore year of college, Rhett had done all he could to convince everyone around him that he wasn’t in love with his best friend.

Still, as Rhett remembered the nights that he and Link spent alone, talking only to each other and making ridiculous jokes, the blonde remembered how good it felt to be the one to make Link smile and bust out into laugh attacks that didn’t stop for fifteen minutes or more. As much as he hated the butterflies that surfaced and reminded him of his affectionate feelings towards his best friend, he yearned for memories like those. Recently, the butterflies had taken a hold of his attention span and had gotten in the way of his relaxation. Was it enough anymore? Were those moments of intense laughter worth the conflicting emotions and pain that Rhett felt afterwards for days on end?

Link met his eyes again in the middle of a conversation with Sue and he smiled at Rhett again, his eyes sad. As much as the blonde wanted to know what had been said to place that look on the brunette’s face, his main desire was to see the excitement takeover Link’s expression again, so he broke on of his own rules and sent the boy a goofy and genuine grin. Link matched the look and laughed slightly, turning back to his mother with slightly flushed cheeks.

 _Hell yes,_ Rhett thought, answering his own question. _It was definitely enough_.

* * *

 

They were best friends. That was always enough.

They moved to California together to continue their Internetainment and pursue a career in an actual television show. It may have failed, but the journey had brought them so much closer together and had sparked the beginning of the best time of their lives. Good Mythical Morning had taken off and they were living comfortably in Burbank, of all places. They lived with their families in beautiful homes. Link’s kids were best friends with Rhett’s kids. Their wives had a girl’s night together every week. Rhett got to go to work with his best friend in the entire world and he made money doing what he loved. The blonde reminded himself of these things as he tried to ignore the emptiness he felt in his stomach.

They had just finished an episode of Good Mythical Morning and Link had asked him if he wanted to go to lunch. The episode hadn’t been food related and Rhett was starving, so he ultimately agreed and they ventured out to Link’s car, laughing about the wheel ending of that day. It was then that Rhett turned to face Link and make some outrageous comment to make the brunette laugh, his voice catching in his throat as he took in the sight of Link in the sun.

Everything came rushing back to him as if it had never left. If he was being honest with himself, it never truly did. Rhett just learned how to repress it more. He knew that the emptiness was there and he knew the reason for it, but he didn’t consistently dwell on it like he used to. Yet, as Link’s brilliant eyes caught Rhett’s and his bright white teeth flashed a beautiful grin, the blonde felt it all crash into him at once.

In that instant, Rhett wanted more than anything to take Link’s face gently in his hand and kiss him. He felt so familiar and inviting, his eyes still crinkling in the way that they always had when he genuinely smiled. Link’s smile suddenly faded and his face took on an expression of confusion and Rhett realized he had started to say something but hadn’t finished.

“You okay, buddyroll?” Link placed a hand on Rhett’s bare arm and the taller of the two felt goosebumps form despite the intense heat. They had reached Link’s car, the parking lot completely empty, and Rhett suddenly didn’t want to lie anymore.

“No,” Rhett said, looking Link intensely in the eyes, as if seeing him for the first time. Link looked back, expression one that Rhett had never seen before.

“What’s going on?” Link asked, his voice barely above a whisper. Rhett stayed silent for a while, wishing for not the first time that Link could just read his mind.

Not knowing what to say, the blonde opted for a different option. Link’s back was already against the van’s front door, his stance casual and relaxed. Rhett hesitantly placed a hand against Link’s jaw, hyperaware of how much his hands were shaking. Link swallowed audibly, but didn’t flinch away from the touch. His eyes closed for a moment and he took a deep breath before looking back up at Rhett. The taller of the two took his opposite hand and placed it on Link’s shoulder and that’s when he saw it. Link’s eyes flickered to Rhett’s lips and back up, a red blush taking over his cheeks. Suddenly, Rhett’s heart felt much stronger than it had when he had first made the decision to come clean. He gently tilted the brunette’s chin up and looked into those cornflower eyes that he had fallen in love with, searching for any sign of hesitation or rejection.

When a second passed and Rhett felt like he wasn’t going to be able to go through with it, Link suddenly crashed his lips into the blonde’s and his hands snaked around the taller man’s waist.

After what had to have been several minutes of making out, Link pulled away to steady himself and looked up at Rhett, clearly flustered although he had initiated the kiss. He looked at him with curiosity, asking a question that he didn’t know how to form into words. Rhett cupped Link’s cheek and kissed him again, lighter and with more gentle affection than the first kiss. As he pulled away, his cheeks nearly maroon, he looked Link in the eyes and shrugged, his expression one of shy honesty.

“It wasn’t enough anymore.”

Link nodded in understanding, but his eyes cast downwards and he looked at his wedding band for a while before turning his gaze back up to Rhett, who was already feeling tears well up in his eyes, fully aware of what Link was about to say.

“It has to be.”

Rhett nodded and sniffed, smiling sadly.

“I know.”

“Can we go back from this?” Link asked, his voice clearly indicating that he didn’t want to, but his face filled with panic.

“We have to.”

Rhett did his best to ignore the tears that were falling down his best friend’s face.

“I love you, Rhett.”

“I love you, too, Link,” and then, because he couldn’t help himself, “maybe a little bit different than a brother.”

Link laughed at this as tears ran down his cheeks in streams, the sound still just as beautiful as the first day Rhett heard it, and the blonde man nodded to himself in encouragement and with complete confidence.

It was still enough.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm in the middle of my serial fic but I got hit with an idea for an angsty one-shot. Sorry for this. I'm usually not one to end in angst but I couldn't resist. I've been reading too many sad fics lately. I hope this satisfied you! Please leave feedback! Thank you for reading my nonsense.


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